The Flying Lizards

While best known for their cover of "Money", The Flying Lizards were one of the more outrageous experimental punk acts from the early '80s. With a catchy robotic post-modernist dada sound, The Flying Lizards built upon the stop-start jerk of Devo and moved from minimalist dub pop to trance-like ambient music. Irishman David Cunningham was the conceptualist behind the group - he played the instruments and formed the dada core - but what really made them memorable were the lead "singers" Deborah Evans, Patti Palladin and Sally Peterson.


Money


TV

Around only for the debut self titled LP, Deborah Evan's deadpan delivery gave the Lizards' an arty quality that rose above the dub and computer clap trap. Sure it's tongue in cheek and at worst it's like the most painful performance art but there's just something oddly lovable about Evan's droll despondence.

Palladin was next up. She'd moved to England with a friend, Judy Nylon, from the states in 1974. They formed a punk band, Snatch, and released a few singles in '76 and '77. (Their single "All I Want" charted at #54 and they collaborated with Brian Eno on the b-side of his King's Lead Hat single.) Patti joined the Lizards in 1981 and wrote/performed on five of the songs on "The Fourth Wall." Palladin delivers a deriding punk sneer where Evan's gave a mechanical monotone.


Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Cunningham finished The Flying Lizards project with the un-commercial modernist cover album, "Top Ten" (1984) with vocalist Sally Peterson (currently a successful DJ in Britain) from which "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was taken. Peterson closely followed Evan's android vox.

Mark Allen's Flying Lizard's site is essential - http://www.markallencam.com/theflyinglizards.html